When You Wasn't Famous
By: Sam Lincoln
Disclaimer: The characters from Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling and are used here without permission.
"When you're a famous boy/it's gets really easy to get girls/It's all so easy you get a bit spoiled/but when you try to pull a girl who is also famous too/It Feels Just Like When You Wasn't Famous
-When You Wasn't Famous, The Streets
Chapter 18: England vs Italy
Ginny tightened her grip on her broom as she waited for the referee to start the fixture against Italy. Unlike the Spanish with their world-class Chasers, the strength of the Italians lay in their Beaters. Sergio Marciano and Enrico Pallanca were two of the best in game. They were both not only big and burly, but had wicked aim with the Beater bat. Teams considered themselves lucky if they escaped a match against the Italian side with only minor injuries. Teams that were unlucky saw their best players taken off the pitch on stretchers. That meant Colbourn and Prentiss would have their work cut out for them, and Harry would have to keep his head on swivel since Marciano and Pallanca would undoubtedly focus their attention on him. For Ginny though it meant this fixture wouldn't be nearly as stressful as the previous one. The Italian Chasers were several cuts below their English counterparts and there was no need for them to employ any strategy other than a base offense and defense. Which was not to say that Ginny could take the match lightly, or that it would be an easy win. Simply that after the added stress of the previous two tilts Ginny was looking forward to just playing Quidditch.
A flash of movement in the corner of her vision caught Ginny's attention. She glanced up and saw Harry doing lazy loop-the-loops high above the pitch. Ostensibly they were part of his warm-up routine, but Ginny knew that Harry was mostly just showing off. It wasn't that the maneuvers were complicated, in fact the exact opposite was true, they were so simple a first year at Hogwarts could do them. It was their simplicity that was intimidating. Before a match of this importance most Seekers would go through an elaborate routine of warm-up exercises, but not Harry. He was so confident in his abilities that he was content to do loop-the-loops until the Snitch was released. Ginny was glad she had never seriously considered taking up Seeking. She was sure if she had to face off against a toerag like Harry she'd knock him off his broom the first chance she got.
She did, however, have to deal with Harry off the pitch, and Ginny wasn't sure if that was worse. It wasn't that Harry behaved badly towards her; just that having his presence in her life again was confusing things. She had not changed her mind about ending the relationship once the tournament was over, but the previous week had been an eye-opener. It wasn't just the sex, although that remained amazing, and Ginny had quickly reconsidered her stance on the post-match shag only rule. Every night the previous week they had closed down the Lonely Mermaid talking about Quidditch. It reminded Ginny of all the late nights she and Harry had shared in the Gryffindor Common Room diagramming new plays for the team. Despite whatever faults he might have, Harry was still the brightest Quidditch mind Ginny had ever met. She loved Quidditch and would quite happily spend every waking moment of the day thinking about it, but even then she did not match Harry's grasp on the sport. He understood Quidditch at a level Ginny could only glimpse at. She supposed that was what made him such a good Seeker; he was able to make order out of the chaos that went on over a pitch. Ginny was convinced that if he wanted to, Harry would make a first-rate manager when his flying days were over since he could also explain what he saw in ways that anyone could understand. It was a talent not everyone who played possessed and was what made him such a good captain at Hogwarts. And in the years since then his knowledge had only grown. Ginny felt like she had learned more about Quidditch in the past week than she had over the course of the past season with the Harpies. She had no idea how to make it happen, but Ginny was resolved to not lose such a valuable asset and wanted to keep training with him. Even if technically Harry would be helping an opponent.
As Ginny mulled over how to convince Harry to keep her on as a training partner the starter's cannon fired off signaling the start of the match. Ginny cursed her inattention and returned her focus back to the pitch in time to catch a pass from Westerman. She held onto the Quaffle for a moment. In part to draw in the Italian Chasers, and in part to remind herself what play they had decided to run to open the match. Seeing Shetley and Westerman crossing paths jogged her memory and she rifled the Quaffle at the space Westerman was headed towards. As soon as the Quaffle left her hand she drove for the goals.
The Quaffle was barely in Westerman's hands before he tossed it across the field to a streaking Shetley. Shetley in turn threw a dart in Ginny's direction, but aimed away from the goals. Time seemed to slow down for Ginny as she reached out and instead of catching the Quaffle, slapped at it. The redirected shot went tumbling past the Italian Keeper and through the topmost goal.
The crowd roared its approval, but Ginny had no time to bask in the adoration. She had to track back on defense. The defensive plan going to the match was for the English Chasers to apply heavy "broom-on-broom" pressure and rely on their superior athleticism to see them through. Most managers would play it safe with the stakes this high and employ some form of zone defense, but any skilled Chaser hated playing zone and Cabbock knew his starting trio had an abundance of skill. Ginny stayed in the hip pocket of her assignment, Italian Chaser Sylvio Verducci despite his best efforts to shake her. Here Ginny's time as Harry's backup at Hogwarts provided invaluable experience. If you could follow another Seeker around the pitch, especially one as talented as Harry, you could also apply Cabbock's brand of suffocating pressure defense.
Ginny spared a glance behind her and saw that Westerman was similarly marking his man. That meant Shetley's man had one of two choices: either force a bad pass, or attempt a low percentage shot. Since this was the worst shooting Chaser the Italians had Ginny figured he would try for the pass and prepared herself accordingly. As she expected, the Chaser flung the Quaffle in Verducci's direction. Unfortunately for the Italians Ginny's reaction time was better than her counterpart and she easily slid into the path of the Quaffle. The moment it smacked the palm of her outstretched hand she had it tucked safely by her side and was darting across the pitch towards the Italian goals.
As she approached the goal and raised the Quaffle into a throwing position Ginny heard Shetley call out behind her. Without missing a beat she adjusted her grip and flicked the Quaffle back to Shetley. She held her line bearing down on the Italian Keeper for a few additional moments before veering off, thereby holding the Keeper's attention while Shetley slipped in and fired the Quaffle home.
"Nice pass," Shetley said to Ginny as they shared a high five.
"Nice shot, now do it fourteen more times and we'll be through"
"I think that's mostly on Harry," Shetley said. They both looked up and watched as Harry neatly evaded one Bludger, only to get hit with a glancing blow from the second. It was all Ginny could do not to visibly cringe. "I do not envy that bloke today."
"Then maybe we should do something about that," Ginny said.
"Er how?"
"By changing their priorities," Ginny said then raced off after the Quaffle.
"But…" Shetley started to say before realising what Ginny was getting at. "Steve!" he shouted at the English captain. "Ginny wants to go all out." Westerman looked up at Harry then nodded his understanding.
Ginny's plan was simple, disrupt the Italian's attempt to slow down Harry and give their Chasers time to build a Snitch-proof lead by building their own Snitch-proof lead. If she, Shetley and Westerman threatened to blow the Italian Chasers off the pitch, their Beaters would be forced to divert some of their attention from Harry and give him the space he needed to catch the Snitch. It assumed the Italians would adjust their strategy, and that the English Chasers could roll over their Italian counterparts, but Ginny felt confident they could make that happen.
An hour later Ginny's plan was working, much to her chagrin. In the face of the English attack Marciano and Pollanca had shifted their attention to Ginny and the other Chasers which was both good and bad. Good because Harry was no longer at risk of taking a Bludger to the head. Bad because now Ginny was the target of the Italian's Bludger strikes. Though with four targets to choose from their attacks weren't nearly as effective as when they were focused on just Harry.
Still though, Marciano and Pollanca were very good Beaters, and on form, and they had managed to slow down the English attack. Ginny's back was sore from taking a solid hit, and the fingers of her primary shooting hand tingled from a glancing blow to her wrist. They had the match well in hand, but the longer it went on the chance of serious injury increased.
Ginny glanced up at Harry, who was still flitting across the pitch. "Just hurry up and catch the Snitch already," Ginny said to herself. A Bludger skittering in front of her caused Ginny to yank up on her broom. She made a note to herself to yell at Prentiss and Colbourn when the match ended, then continued her pursuit of Verducci.
An hour-long slog later Harry finally managed to catch the Snitch handing the team a dominant victory, and a place in the finals. The mood in the locker room when Cabbock entered though was more relived than ebullient.
"We spent the past week planning our tactics for this match. Whose bright idea was it to throw that right out the window?" Cabbock asked without preamble.
Ginny sensed that Shetley and Westerman were about to say something to deflect the blame from her. After all what place did the junior member of the team have in changing the approach mid-match? Determined not to let anyone else take the blame for her decision Ginny dragged herself to her feet. "That was my call."
Cabbock focused his gaze on Ginny. "Your call? So you decided the strategy arrived at by myself and the rest of the coaching staff, some of the best Quidditch minds on the planet, wasn't working to your liking so you changed it?"
Ginny held Cabbock's gaze. "That's it exactly." She felt annoyed at Cabbock's second guessing and she was too drained from the match to do anything to hide it. "Those two." She jerked her thumb in Colbourn and Prentiss's direction. "Were off the pace from the jump." Prentiss opened his mouth to protest but Colbourn elbowed him quiet. "If we hadn't gotten more aggressive there's a good chance Harry gets stretchered off the pitch."
"She's right Cabs," Westerman said. "Marciano and Pollanca were just too dominant today. If Ginny hadn't made the call when she did I would have not much later." A surge of appreciation flowed through Ginny for the older man.
Cabbock continued to stare at Ginny, the muscles in his jaw visibly flexing. "All right, it was a good call. I don't want flyers who blindly stick to a plan when it obvious isn't working. Excellent job Ginny."
Ginny felt her cheeks flush red. "Thank-you sir." She slid back down into her chair feeling very much relieved. Shetley leaned over and clapped her on the shoulder in congratulations.
"That was a good win today, but not a great win. We still aren't where we need to be, and you can, and will, do better. On the bright side though, we have one more chance to do so. Our mission coming into the tournament wasn't just to have a good showing, it wasn't just to put a scare into someone. Our mission is to win the championship. We are now one step closer to that goal, but that last step is going to be the hardest. This upcoming week you're all going to have to train harder than you ever had before, but not until Tuesday. There won't be training tomorrow or Monday. Come into the facility, take care of your medical, and we'll be having strategy sessions, but nothing on the pitch. I'm proud of all you and you played a hell of a match today. Those of you who have to do press will be sent for when it's your turn. The rest of you, get treatment and rest up." Cabbock spun on his heels and left for the press room.
Ginny slipped behind her partition to change out of her Quidditch robes. Before she could though ,Harry popped around the partition. "Ginny, I, er, just wanted to say thanks for what you did today."
"There's no need to thank me Harry. You heard Steve, any Quidditch player with a lick of sense in her head could see what was going on."
Harry fixed Ginny with a firm gaze. "You and I both know there is another way to play that situation."
"And let you get pummeled into oblivion?"
"We do have a reserve Seeker," Harry said.
Gunny stuck her chin out and glared at Harry. "Who isn't nearly as good as you are."
"So that's all it was then? You were just looking out for the best intentions of the team?" He closed the distance between the pair and rested a hand on Ginny's forearm.
If Ginny was being honest with herself it was more than that. The thought of Harry getting hurt made her stomach clench even after the match was over. Admitting that to him though felt like weakness. "Harry, getting injured is a fact of life playing Quidditch. If you think I'm going to go out of my way to keep your skinny arse safe for any other reason that the good of the team you are delusional."
Harry's eyes continued to bore in on Ginny's and for a brief moment she was afraid he had mastered the art of Legilamancy. He finally blinked and released her arm. "Well turn about is fair play," he said so quietly Ginny almost missed it.
"So are we on for dinner at the Mermaid?" Ginny asked in an attempt to defuse the tension that had suddenly permeated the room.
"Unfortunately I can't," Harry said. "I already promised my parents I would have dinner with them. I could send them an owl and push it off to another night."
"No don't do that. I know how much spending time with your parents means to you, and I'm not taking the piss either, I'm being sincere. We'll just meet up after then, yeah?" She winced internally at how desperate that sounded to her ears.
A smile crossed Harry's face. "Yeah definitely, I have press duty today, but I just wanted to stop by and say thanks before I face the jackals." He turned to leave.
"Harry," Ginny said before he walked past the partition. "If you really want to say thanks save it for later. Harry walked back over to Ginny and pulled her in for a searing kiss before leaving for the main dressing room. "Well that's a start," Ginny said to herself before heading to the shower.
Author's Notes: Would you look at that, Ginny saving Harry's bacon. On reflection, I think there's an intimation in this story that Ginny is actually the better Quidditch player. Thanks again to everyone who takes time out of their busy days to read this little tale. See you next week.
-sam